That's how mangoes grow...

This is what mangoes look like on a mango tree. I find the long stems on the mangoes particularly amusing. I saw my first mango tree in the Dominican Republic in 1994. We were on holiday there in Cabarete for windsurfing. That's also where I ate my first mangoes.

It happened like this: We were sitting on the beach, chatting, when suddenly a woman with a fruit basket on her head smiled at us and asked if we wanted to eat some fruit. We said yes.

Then the fruit seller placed her basket in the sand in front of us, and we examined the fruit. I asked her for the names of the fruits I didn't know, and that's when I noticed the mangoes. I picked up a mango, and then she asked if we wanted to eat a mango.

Again, we answered yes to her question and ate our first mango. Delicious, I thought, and was thrilled. During that holiday, we ate a mango every day, and my enthusiasm for mangoes has stayed with me to this day.